Where Does Home Design Inspiration Come From?

Social media is changing our lives in many ways, and often so subtlely we don't realize it's happening. For example, you see glass walls in houses everywhere today, at least on Pinterest, Houzz and Google+ which offer a wonderland of home design inspiration. It's likely you've never seen one in person unless you've gone to a home show recently and seen displays of the marvelous new glass door options available.

So where do you find ideas for your home, whether you're building, remodeling or redecorating a room? You might look to magazines or websites with lots of house designs, but why not look beyond those boundaries?

Today's fabulous Friday find is more of a concept than a product. And credit goes to Vancouver General Contractors, who provided my initial inspiration to share their story about the Bird's Nest Treehouse shared above. It all began when the architect's visited the homeowner's house and saw a bird's nest. They explored the site and found two trees with enough space to support the 14 foot wide treehouse, without damaging the trees.

The story grows even more amazing (click above to learn more), offering you insight into the software architects use to take an idea and create drawings that can be used to actually build houses, and in this case, the bird's nest treehouse.

Home Design Inspiration from Restaurants

Do you like going out to eat? Do you pick restaurants based on their food, customer service, entertainment or possibly, their unique location or design? I'll admit I'm not a foodie, so my restaurant choices have always been about the location or something unusual like this aquarium. We took our family to the the Rum Fish Grill in St Petersburg, FL over the holidays, and watched the fish throughout our meal.

Here's another great restaurant, with incredible wall and ceiling paneling that leads your eyes up, up and then you get to enjoy the fun white sculpture hanging from the ceiling. You might not want to fill an entire room with panels like this but you could have fun with a few panels that you rearranged periodically to give your space a new look. Or maybe you've gotten some home design inspiration (The Yue Restaurant, shared by InteriorZine.com) from the mobile, as we've got lots more open floor plans and sloped ceilings that are waiting for a creative touch.

Some restaurants are elegant, while others like this mid-century cafe in a hotel, is pure whimsy. Who wouldn't fall in love with a restaurant where the decorating theme was kitchens and food. What I absolutely loved is how this restaurant used the kitchen as the decorating theme, and the cupcake pans used for wallpaper was simply amazing.

Have you got a story to share about your best home decorating inspiration? We'd love to hear what's worked for you.